The Relationship of Distributed Leadership and Professional Learning Community

Abstract

Distributed leadership offers a new thinking in transforming school’s leadership. Professional learning community has been identified to have a strong influence on the teaching quality of teachers. This article examines the relationship of distributed leadership of secondary school administrators with professional learning community. The literatures suggest that distributed leadership perspective is a good alternative strategy to improve the quality of educational institutions, but empirical evidence show s the relationship of distributed leadership and professional learning community is limited. Data were collected from 592 teachers working in secondary schools in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Data analysis was done based on Structural Equation Modeling using AMOS software. The study found that distributed leadership (DL) has a positive and strong correlation relationship with professional learning community (PLC), r = 0.844, p < 0.001. Regression weight analysis for DL -> PLC shows that regression coefficient value, β = 1.182. This explains that when distributed leadership variable (DL) goes up by 1 unit, the professional learning community variable (PLC) will also go up by 1182 units. The distributed leadership (DL) exogenous variable in the regression model can significantly predict the change in the professional learning community (PLC) endogenous variable. The results show the value of variance in professional learning community (PLC) endogenous variable predicted by distributed leadership (DL) exogenous variable for DL -> PLC pathway. Estimated value = 0.835 (C.R. = 6.174, p < 0.001) indicates that as much as 83.5% of the variance in professional learning community (PLC) variables can be predicted by the distributed leadership (DL) variable. In conclusion, a strong positive relationship was revealed between distributed leadership of secondary school administrators and professional learning community. Distributed leadership of secondary school administrators was also a significant predictor of professional learning community. Therefore, the findings of the study indicate that distributed leadership practiced by school administrators is a critical factor in establishing professional learning community at school leve l.